McLintock! (1963)

Well, this film certainly may not be too politically correct for these times, but that aside, is simply a very well acted Western version of "The Taming of the Shrew". The chemistry between John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara is electric. She plays her role so convincing that you're happy she gets her spanking from George McLintock in the end. It's all done in a very comical way, and Maureen O'Hara was an excellent comic actress. For this reason, this film remains popular. In some ways it is similar to another John Wayne film, "The Quiet Man" also starring with Maureen O'Hara. In that film, John also plays the patient guy trying hard not to become violent, but to no avail. Both films represent the rawness of the land they live in: the rough American West and the bucolic but tough Irish country where fist fighting is very much a man's art. Seen through cultural filters both films are very realistic and natural. Those who look at these films from a perspective foreign to these cultures are missing the point entirely.

Fmovies: The Tales of the American West and the Western Film are two inseparable American Cultural Institutions. They are highly visible and closely related to each other. Both are exaggerated and distorted versions of American History. Whatever the images we harbor in the deep recesses of our widdle heads, they are colored by people like Zane Gray, Louis Lamour, William S. Hart and John Ford.

Then of course, we have so many types of western film as we have other kinds of genres of stories. So some films are historically correct, some are strictly fairy tale material. So we even have Western Farce, a subject well represented by today's 'victim', the John Wayne starring vehicle, McLINTOCK (Batjac Productions/United Artists, 1963).

Being an original screenplay, the story is a custom fit for the Duke, whose Batjac Productions made the picture and released it through United Artists. Long on characters and characterizations, the picture uses the slimmest plot as just a reason for presenting political postulates and providing its audience with many a reason to laugh.

OUR STORYÂ…Â…Â…..It is to be a Great Celebration of the 4th of July in the Western Town of McLintock. Having been named after its local patriarch, the Multi-millionaire Rancher/Farmer/Miner, one George Washington McLintock (the Duke), the town and its people have prospered.

Added to the mix we have the return from College "back East" of G.W.'s daughter, Becky McLintock (Stephanie Powers-Woo, woo, woo, woo!). Her affections were being sought after by College Boy and Glee Club Varsity Letterman, Matt Douglas, Jr. (Jerry Van Dyke), the son of U.S. Government Agent, Matt Douglas (Gordon Jones). Jerry Van Dyke does as fine a job as ever in doing comic relief. He gives a Stan Laurelesque interpretation to his character.* The biggest development in the whole chain of happenings is the return of G.W.'s estranged firebrand of a wife, Katherine Gilhooley McLintock (Maureen O'Hara), who has a real love-hate relationship with G.W. The climax of the film has an open air domestic "quarrel" that takes Mrs. Mc down the streets of the town, clad in (strictly non-revealing) foundation under-garments, with G.W. in pursuit, ah, it's true love! Many who have viewed both films agree that this was a sort of obvious attempt to recreate the high spot in John Ford's THE QUIET MAN (Argosy Pictures/Republic Pictures Corporation, 1952), in which both the Duke and Maureen O'Hara also coincidentally were the belligerents.

In the viewing of McLINTOCK!, we witness a real hybrid of a production. As we have mentioned before, we have a particular sort of Horse Opera here. It is a true farce. Unlike Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES (Crossbow Productions/ Warner Brothers, 1974), which was a spoof of the Western, the John Wayne film was a farce, all the way. If anything, we can describe it as a sort of "latter day" or modern, if you will, Mack Sennett Comedy. And it is with confidence we offer this thesis, for it seems to have all the same elements; namely, a central hero having some unusual difficulties, family troubles, bad business conditions and high expectations of his ability to weather the "storm." In the process of getting through the 2 hours, the Duke manages to instruct us on what his ideas were on the way things are and should be.

If you notice, any Governmental Representative is seen with a dim view, not only of his intent, but also of the underlying intent and outright necessity of wha

I am a John Wayne fan, but have never heard much "buzz" about this movie. Indeed, I hesitated over it a number of times before renting it for my family's weekly movie. I almost introduced it apologetically.

No worries, though! This movie is CLASSIC John Wayne. There are SO many elements to like in it. You get some good and timely philosophical comments about self-reliance versus dependency, some other good points on what goes into a marriage; but then there are truly funny comic moments, scenes, lines. Very un-PC, very memorable.

In fact, this movie has so many great lines it will require more viewings. We re-ran several as it was.

Put that together with a uniformly strong supporting class, and I think you've got vintage Wayne.

McLintock! fmovies. I've always been a John Wayne fan and a fan of this movie in particular. When it came out in 1963, there was a television special on the making of "McLintock!" that showed the filming of the famous muddy fight sequence. That got me wanting to see this film even more.

In today's "politically correct" atmosphere, the spanking scenes would seem to some as barbarian. But it was played as broad comedy and remains broad comedy. Maureen O'Hara gave (verbally) as she got.

40 years ago, during the telecast of JFK's funeral, the flag-draped casket and caisson were shown passing by a movie theater. On the marquee: "McLintock!"

Whatever you think of John Wayne's politics, they were never better expressed more convincingly or with more entertainment than they are in McLintock. At first glance this film is a rough house western version of The Taming of the Shrew. But it is far more than that, it is the closest thing we have to a film manifesto of the world as John Wayne saw it.

As G.W. McLintock, the Duke is the American dream personified. The man who came west and by dint of his own sweat and labor built a cattle empire. He did it without the government's help and note how he tells the settlers the government doesn't 'give' anything away. One of the three people identified as villains in his world view is land agent Gordon Jones. He's a liberal in McLintock, peddling the view that government help is the answer to all of our problems.

McLintock rather broadly satirizes other people who Wayne considers liberals. The know-it-all college kid Jerry Van Dyke, the tanglefooted bureaucrat Indian agent Strother Martin, the oily politician Robert Lowery these people get quite a going over.

Wayne doesn't 'give' anybody anything. As he says to son Patrick Wayne in my favorite line in all John Wayne movies, "I don't give jobs, I hire men." That's a creed he followed in real life as well.

Sad to say though the world isn't as simple as McLintock would have us believe. McLintock takes place in the age of the robber barons and those folks were not as noble in character as G.W. McLintock. Maybe the world ought to be like it is in McLintock, but it ain't.

McLintock is one grand piece of entertainment though. The comedy is as broad and unsophisticated as you would find in any John Ford film and with good reason as Wayne and Director Andrew McLaglen learned the movie trade from him.

In addition to dealing with the assorted 'liberals' mentioned above, the Duke has some domestic concerns. Wife Maureen O'Hara has left him, but is back over where their daughter Stefanie Powers will reside. Maureen is playing the same role she did in Rio Grande and later on in Big Jake, the estranged wife who circumstances force her back with Wayne. In the case of McLintock though these are circumstances that Wayne makes on his own with some inspiration from The Taming of the Shrew.

The cast is populated with a grand cast of regulars from previous Wayne films like Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Hank Worden, Leo Gordon, Michael Pate, and some already mentioned.

Jack Kruschen makes his one and only film appearance in a Wayne film here. He does very well as the kindly, benevolent and obviously Jewish storekeeper. He's got an important function also here, as another self made American success story in the same film.

Yvonne DeCarlo got cast in this film after her husband who was a stunt man was injured badly on another film. She had heavy duty medical expenses and Wayne was not about charity. But he was legendary for taking care of fellow performers giving them a pay day in his films if they needed it. He didn't give jobs, he hired men and women. Yvonne is Pat Wayne's mother in the film who Maureen suspects of being Wayne's mistress when she's hired as a housekeeper.

We also get an economics lecture from the Duke as well. He works for "every man who goes to a butcher shop and wants a T-Bone steak." And Pat Wayne works for him. It's what makes the capitalist system go.

If you take some of the politics e

"McLintock", released in 1963, was a film that gave the Duke a chance to simply play a role for laughs, and let the story take care of itself. Paired with long-time screen leading lady Maureen O'Hara, the two manage to play their roles to the hilt, and the viewer can simply enjoy.

John Wayne is G. W. McLintock, a wealthy rancher that is looking to enjoy what his years of hard work have earned him--money, major spread, cattle, respect, etc. What is missing, however, is his wife, Katherine, played by Maureen O'Hara. Two years ago, without any advance warning, Kate split from the McLintock ranch and headed eastward, taking their daughter with her. Now, the daughter is returning from college, and Kate is returning, as well, determined to see that Becky goes back with her. G. W. is going to do his best to see that Becky stays with him.

The film's comedy sequences features a wild fist fight taking place at a mud slide, eventually, all the major participants end up in a slide down the mud, yes, even G. W. and Kate, and at the end of the film, a wild chase between G. W. and Kate, that ends up with a spanking being applied to Kate's backside. Ultimately, the fighting McLintocks become the peaceful duo, and the fireworks come to an end.